We drove up from the south to the early afternoon Twins game Monday. Trying to get across the river was a traffic nightmare. On our trip home, we chose to head west toward Chaska, and that was no picnic either. Was it necessary to do major bridge and road repair on major north-south traffic arteries simultaneously?

BOB JENTGES, North Mankato, Minn.

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VIKINGS STADIUM

Troubled not by the money, but by ethics

When people speak or write about the Vikings stadium, the elephant in the room is the reality that a judge has determined that for more than 20 years the team’s owners cheated their business partners out of their fare share of real-estate partnership revenues (“Wilfs are on notice: Keep state deal clean,” Aug. 13). Why would any ethical individual want to commit to a business relationship with a partner who has been deemed guilty of fraud, breach of contract and racketeering? That’s the real issue at the heart of the matter — not whether the owners will have enough money to build the stadium after all of the expenses of the lawsuit have been paid.

ARLENE FRIED, Minneapolis

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GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE

How much is known? Where will it end?

NSA of the USA, KGB of the USSR. Not much difference, is there? Never thought we would get there, but we have arrived (“NSA reveals more secrets after court order,” Aug. 22).

BRUCE A. GRANGER, Prior Lake

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MARRIAGE AND MONEY

Article raised a question about divorce

I read the Aug. 17 commentary about marriage with interest (“Marriage now for the richer, not the poorer,” Aug. 17). If money is an important ingredient for a happy marriage, why do the rich get divorced?

SARAH McVAUGH, Ramsey

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GUN RIGHTS

Schools should notify parents of dangers

I own a gun. I believe in the right to bear arms. It’s in the Constitution. I believe in freedom of speech. It’s also in the Constitution. Occasionally I will use an expletive. But I limit those occasions to when hammer meets thumb or in the company of other expletive-spewing comrades. If I’m walking in a park and pass a stranger, I keep my verbiage social. I could use more colorful language, but I know that others would be offended. I know that public display of guns disturbs some people. I keep my gun in my house. I could carry it in public, but just because I can doesn’t mean I should.

JERRY LEPPART, Eden Prairie

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The debate over guns in the State Capitol ignores the issue of schoolchildren who regularly tour there. Parents expect that their children are safely separated from guns when they are inside school buildings. When their children are brought to the Capitol, there’s usually no warning that they will be in a location where guns may be present. Not only are guns allowed, but some grown men feel unsafe in the building unarmed. At a minimum, parents should be notified in advanced.

AL LARSON, Bloomington

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SEX OFFENDERS

Why should any of them ever be set free?

Those convicted of brutalizing children should never again walk free, especially repeat offenders (“2 sex offenders may go free,” Aug. 20). There is something very wrong when we consider releasing violent offenders yet keep low-level drug mules locked up. It doesn’t appear that the public welfare is being considered but rather the viability of a program that has not released anyone in two decades.

PAM HOPF, Minneapolis

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FOOD ASSISTANCE

Cuts to program would hurt those most in need

Affordable nutrition to low-income families is facing a crisis in America. The Recovery Act of 2009, which is scheduled to end Nov. 1, was enacted in order to boost the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As a student studying social work, many families that I’ve had the opportunity to work with rely heavily on their already small amount of SNAP benefits to keep food on the table. For families and individuals already struggling to make ends meet using the existing nutritional programs available, a cut of $29 a month would be devastating.

ZACH LeCRONE, Roseville

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BAD GRAMMAR

Why knowingly print incorrect phrase?

I was disappointed to see an article in the paper about replay in baseball that used terrible grammar (“To err is human; instant replay is not,” Aug. 21) The phrase “we was robbed” was used twice. In case you’ve forgotten, the proper phrase is “we were robbed.” Honestly, we hear athletes, generally poorly educated ones, or those who just don’t care about their English, use phrases like this all the time in TV interviews. It really irks me. And to see a newspaper that espouses early childhood education, all-day kindergarten and increases in education funding print an article using such horrible grammar, on purpose, is hypocritical.

ED KASHMAREK, St. Louis Park

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HOSNI MUBAREK

His freedom from prison is bad for U.S.

Letting Hosni Mubarak walk free from jail right now is the worst possible thing Egypt could do. It signifies that the military is truly in charge, and the actions recently taken by General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi can be classified as nothing but a military coup. If that happens, the United States has a legal obligation to withhold aid to Egypt as a result of the Foreign Assistance Act. However, they would also have a moral obligation to do so.